Malaga's water bill collection gap: Emasa to refund average of 27 euros to 68,000 customers

Municipal water company Emasa will approve a refund to 68,057 customers in Malaga city on Wednesday, after detecting a discrepancy between estimated and actual consumption. These customers will receive an average of 27.2 euros for a fault in the bill since 2013.

The fault concerns cases in which the meter was impossible to read (due to a breakdown in the case of electronic meters, preventing remote reading or because the metrer is inside the building).

To compenste for this mismatch since January 2013, Emasa will automatically refund an average of 27.2 euros to these 68,057 customers. This amount represents one per cent of the total invoiced on average for each contract in the same period.

Emasa issues more than 1.4 million bimonthly invoices each year (18 million since 2013).

Although Emasa has made a total of 1,193 manual bill corrections over the past year, it will extend this regularisation of the bill to all customers who have had this specific problem since January 2013, when the Andalusian domestic water supply regulations came into force.

This procedure exclusively affects the variable fees for supply, desalination, sanitation and treatment, as well as the infrastructure fee of the regional government of Andalucía, IVA (Spanish tax) of ten per cent and legal interest.

Emasa will make the refund in a single and immediate payment by bank transfer to customers who pay their bill by direct debit. For the rest, the water company will deduct the refund from subsequent bills. As for customers who have cancelled their account, Emasa will either make an immediate bank transfer or try to contact them if it has no bank details available.

This information will be included in the next bill and the customer will not have to do anything. In any case, Emasa has a free telephone number (900 777 420) to answer and resolve any queries that may arise.

In parallel, the company has contracted the implementation of a new IT system to automatically resolve this discrepancy. The system will be fully operational by the end of 2027. In the meantime, a procedure will carry out periodic reviews to identify bills with estimated readings, rectify them and proceed with the corresponding refund.

For years now, Emasa has been renovating meters to incorporate devices that allow remote reading. Every year, the municipal company activates a call for applications for subsidies aimed at homeowners' associations to install individual meters and to place meters located inside homes, on stairways or on landings outside.

This aid (150 euros per home or premises) received 200,000 euros in 2025 and has extended to 2026 with another 300,000 euros.